Maybe, check and see if when you fill it up, if it holds about a 1/4 of a t - spoon or less on measuring spoon like you mix baking goods with. if so, it very well may be what the hollowed out horn is for. Best thing though, is to get a brass powder gauge that is marked in 10 grain increments!
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Google moose milk, it is a mix of Ballistol and water that works well as a bore swab and for final cleaning. Also, I would suggest you go to JoAnns Fabric and get some #40 drill fabric it is the utility fabric section with the pillow ticking and such, it is the best patch material I have ever tried.
Whatever you use as patching make sure it is 100 percent cotton or 100 percent wool because if it has any synthetic in it, the synthetic will melt when you fire the rifle and will leave that residue/goo in your rifle, it obviously is not conductive to accuracy and is a pain to clean out. I would also recommend that you stay away from the black powder substitutes they really don’t seem to work very well in the smaller caliber rifles.
As far as patch lube goes, I have used wonder lube, mink oil, bear tallow/bees wax mix, spit patch etc. the mink oil lube that Track of the Wolf sells works about as well as any of it. But it is fun to use the bear grease for nostalgias sake.
You are entering a rabbit hole now though, traditional muzzleloading can be very addictive.
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I don’t know what caliber rifle Boone had; and I doubt anyone else really does either! Truth be told, he most likely had several different guns over his lifetime, as He was captured by the Shawnee, and I bet they didn’t give his gun back to him either. He went out West in later years of his life, and by then it may have been a middle caliber like around .44/ .45 The rifle that’s on display in Frankfort is built more on the style of a southern hog rifle which became more common from around 1800 on till more modern times. As a matter of fact, I think it may even have a cap lock on it; can’t remember for sure. In Boones younger years , when he would have done the bulk of his exploring and long hunts, Rifles were generally thicker at the butt stock, and made more like military muskets in the early to mid 1700’s,and Flint locks. Most calibers would have been larger, say around .50 or larger, before we got into a fuss with King George! Then lead started getting hard to come by. By the time the Revolution was over, calibers were going down to save on lead, and by the war of 1812, most rifles in the East would have been anywhere from a .36 to a .45 for the most part; and the rifles had evolved to the more classic long slim stocked with narrow but stocks we think of when talking about a Kentucky, or Pennsylvania rifle.
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I’m
Afraid so lol I’ve always wanted one for the traditional side of it she take it camping and hunting with me I think I have found another hobby lol
Good advice! I had forgotten about moose milk; Sam Fadala I believe was the guy’s name that wrote about using it and making it in a book I use to have. Don’t have a clue what ever happened to that book now. Funny memory about pillow ticking… The first time I ever saw anyone using pillow ticking for patch material was at Friendship , Indiana, and there was a couple of guys standing around the firing line with strips of it about 18 inches long x 2inches wide I guess hanging out of their mouths! They would shoot, step to the side, cut off a piece of the ticking , and swab their barrels out , and reload. The ticking stayed in their mouth the whole time they were shooting. They looked like they had big long blue and gray lizard tongues ! LOL!
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I remember when I was little the guys around home really didn’t have actual black powder pillow ticking so they used what ever real cotton they could find and once they ran out they have to resight the rifles if they couldn’t find the same thickness. Daddy was always really stingy with his patch material when I was little and you’d better not be wasting or loosening eny.
Buying a swatch of actual pillow ticking form a suppliers is allot nicer.
Colt
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What would be a good start grain powder wise for a squirrel load?
I believe Steve Tucker recommended 20 grains
Of the 3 F
I’d agree with that
Being a low caliber and squirrels be plenty
I wouldn’t deer hunt with that but small critters
Yeah
Best to set up a target and check your accuracy
That’s why that brass powder measure is critical
That 3 F powder burns ignites faster and a great
Powder especially in that riffle your using
It use to be my all around favorite
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They use to sell precut pillow ticking
By caliber
I’ve cut a many a patch but when you can buy it precut why not
Would it use the same as a 50’for deer? Like 125-150 grain?
If you are asking about using 125 to 150 grain loads in a 32, no that is far above excessive. Start with 20 to 25 grains and work up from there, conventional wisdom is that the most accurate load is somewhere around the caliber, this doesn’t always hold true but it is a good rule of thumb.
If you are talking about deer hunting with a 32 just don’t do it, Will a 32 kill a deer certainly so will a 22 but a whole lot can go wrong in the process use the 50 for the deer and the 32 for small game and fun.
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Ok yeah that’s what I was wondering if I could deer hunt with this rifle too
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No, Don’t do it! .32 is a small game caliber only! And whatever you do DON"T SHOOT A BEAR LOAD IN IT! Good way to blow you and the gun up! Digging a blown nipple out of your eye at the Emergency room would really ruin your day! Start out with 15 to 20 grains according to your brass powder measure. play with it till it shoots most accurate , and call that good.
I have a .40 flintlock, and I seldom ever shoot over 30 grains out of it. I don’t use it for deer because I don’t consider it to be quite big enough for taking on a deer . I have a .54 for that!
I have shot double balls allot over the years just make sure BOTH are seated. I would not suggest that in a 32 though no reason to really.
I had no reason in my guns either except I wanted to try it to see if it worked and how it shot.
Know as far as blowing a nipple though your head it it will only bounce off and leave you a cut ask me how I know and no it was not with and over loaded gun just an old gun with worn out nipple threads.
Colt
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Colt, I didn’t make it clear I’m sure; I was referring to the massive overload of powder he was talking about wanting to try in his rifle, and not so much about the double balling! Although I agree with you, as to being no need for it! In my mind, a .32 is a squirrel rifle, and can be used reliably on other small game up to a coyote sized critter. Any animal bigger than that, and you are running a risk of crippling up as many as you would kill I’m afraid.
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I would agree daddy hunted with his 40 with 80 grain it worked but was far from what a 45 will do with 90 grains. No comparison really.
Colt
Ok yeah that’s just why I was asking I’m new to this .32 world I have a cva wolf for deer hunting but that answered my question on the powder load side , I’m gonna take it out this weekend and see if I can even come close to killing me a squirrel or two with it lol
the new goex powder is dirtier than it used to be more grafite in it swiss powder is cleaner shooting, but cost about 10.00 more per pound . freindship spring shoot is june 14-22
if you need caps for gun look at walmart stores caps are quit expensive at freindship